Interesting thread.
Some budget airlines offer tickets at less than £1/$1 tax if you book in advance but several $100 if you book at the last min. If you could get back the tax it would be tempting to buy tickets on the off chance you might need them. Perhaps even one for every day of the year!
and in reply to...
Low fares-yes but high charges to use the only service you can book on to get these low fares.
They have to make the money somehow. They could make all the tickets £/Euro5 more expensive and not charge for credit cards but people with debit cards would cry foul.
Ryanair seems to have policy of trying to keep fares low but charge for just about everything else. Didn\'t they recently get into trouble with a wheelchair pax?... I\'m surprised they haven\'t done away with the free baggage allowance.